Last week, Oliver kept talking about how much he loves vegetables (he never ever ever eats vegetables no matter how hard we try). All day, he kept asking to eat carrots and cucumbers for dinner. I asked if he wanted them cut up. He replied no. Just whole. So, along with his taco and guacamole, I handed him a whole carrot and a whole cucumber. Which he proceeded to take bites of, pretend to love, and then spit it out immediately onto his plate.
Poor guy. He so very badly wants to love his veggies, but he just doesn’t. Do your kids eat veggies? Oliver used to eat everything as a baby, but now can spot a green speck of parsley on his plate from a mile away and will go nowhere near it. Do you hide veggies in food? I’m kind of against it in concept (I want my kids to know what they are eating and learn to appreciate the different flavors) but worry that they aren’t getting all the important stuff they need food-wise.
How do you deal with veggie-haters in your home?
Let me first say, I’m entirely unqualified to answer this question so take everything I say with a grain of salt. I have a not yet two year old who eats everything and that could very well change any day now. SO, that. But I still wanted to weigh in!
As far as hiding vegetables in food, I absolutely do it but I don’t rely on it as Gus’s only veggie intake. I do it just to make sure regardless of what he gets down knowingly that he gets down something. I make myself smoothies with greens and give him a small cup at breakfast. I grate carrots and zucchini into humus on toast. I chop spinach super fine and stir it into baked sweet potatoes. Then my favorite, vegetable pancakes. A good one to start with is zucchini, summer squash, onion, garlic, and basil. SO GOOD!! And then from there you can just start recycling your leftover veggies, maybe the ones they left on their plate, into the pancakes. Breaded zucchini/squash sticks or rounds are great, too! Would he be more likely to eat his veggies if he made them? Maybe you could get him a kid’s cookbook or you guys could make a kid’s cookbook together? Because obviously you don’t have your hands full enough already.. 🙂
So far we’re doing pretty good with food. I have all these theories on why but again, I really have no idea if tomorrow he’s going to drop his veggie habit. The only veggies we have difficultly with are straight greens. I’m not sure if it’s texture or flavor but I’m constantly working at getting him to like greens. I WILL SUCCEED ONE DAY. All that being said, I’m expecting him to turn on me any day now and start demanding strictly donuts. 🙂 🙂 🙂
What is it? Babies will eat anything but then turn into picky toddlers. I think all 4 have mine have done that. I have hide or combine veggies into dishes sometimes. However, I can find this takes more time than it is worth, or the dish become unappealing to the rest of the family. So my advice just keep trying and then try again. By age three, I don’t give them a choice anymore. They are going to sit at the table until they have at least 3 bites a particular food, one for each the stomach, head, and heart. Also, I will try to serve that food multiple times over the course of a couple of weeks, so they become more use to the taste of it. I usually prepare it the same way, so I don’t confuse their poor little taste buds. Oh and a little parmasan cheese or ketchup on top seems to help the spagetti squash, brocolli, or aspargus go down. True apprciation comes with time. Elizabeth gave me a “so-so” on kale chip, so I guess I will keep working on them. Best of luck, there is no right answer. Every kid and parent is different. However, I know you are a fantastic cook and gardner, so I know you aren’t trying to get your kids to choke down canned green beans. I still need to hide all veggies to get Gabe to eat them, but he would eat a bunch of bananas a day if I let him.
Yes I know- Wyatt seems to go through phases and sometimes he will eat anything and then he’ll switch to pushing around and avoiding everything except cheese and tofu hot dogs. Orange veggies seem to win over green. Sometimes I do try to hide veggies- I sauté frozen chopped spinach into scrambled eggs and I use grated carrots in lots of baked goods. I only do it if I also enjoy the taste though and I just jeep presenting him with veggies at each meal.
Right now there is a plate of tortured zucchini sitting in the high chair that he carefully picked out of his tortellini lunch. Makes me sad but he’ll come around.
I will chime in… I have two boys, 1 and 3. The one year old doesn’t eat anything healthy that I’d love for him to. The first child ate everything healthy and wonderful. I work full time (sadly) and do not have time to do lots of roasting, cooking in depth, etc. That being said, the oldest loves cucumbers and cherry tomatoes that he picks. We do sweet potato fries (homemade and/or trader joe’s!)… sometimes with a bit of ketchup. I model eating lots of salads and veggies, but I do hide some veggies in foods. I believe that they will come around eventually (right?!). For the wee one, I secretly put earth’s best (when I can find them bogof) veggies in his vanilla yogurt and he seems fine with it. Smoothies are good for both, too… adding flax seeds. I do sometimes feel bad that they ask me for “milkshakes” and think that’s what I’m giving them when it’s really a good smoothie 🙂 We do our best, don’t we?! Good luck.
Julian has been a picky eater since birth. We have managed to find the right balance of what works for him by lots of trial and error. We figured out that he has issues with texture – hard, crunchy vegetables don’t jive with him. Oven roasting things like broccoli and asparagus until they’re soft but not mushy has helped him eat more veggies. Salads are still right out.
I am with you in that I generally don’t like the idea of having to sneak healthy foods in. I think kids should develop healthy eating habits early on, and it shouldn’t be all veggie gummies and black beans disguised as sweet brownies, even though those things by themselves are not necessarily bad. But to completely contradict myself, I have done those things in desperation just to make sure he’s getting enough healthy foods into the mix. If he had his way, he would only eat breads, cheeses, and meats all day long. When he was very tiny, it was only foods with an orange hue he would eat: Goldfish crackers, cheddar cheese, Trader Joe’s chicken nuggets. So we have definitely done the sneaky spinach into a fruit smoothie trick.
Another thing that helps is making soup. I know it’s not exactly soup weather, but Picky Julian will chomp down on some lentil soup and even eat the veggies in it, if they are chopped finely enough.
One thing that sometimes worked with my kids were to let them help make the food. They ate a lot better if they had some part of the meal’s creation. The other thing that helped with veggies was (and still is occasionally) dip. Ranch dip, salsa dip, yogurt dip, some kind of dip to use with the vegetables. Finally, time is a big help. My youngest was a horrible eater at 3 and 4. But she is now starting to try and like new foods.
Don’t give up and keep on trying.